Author Archives: Fox Valley Voices of Men

When I do community presentations, I’ll often ask a hypothetical question: “Imagine I just got a text alert saying there was a school shooting in Arizona. Tell me the gender of the shooter.” Invariably everyone says male. I’ll often pause a bit and let that sink in a bit — they all “knew” this hypothetical […]

Two PSA’s we are airing this month. Thank you to Woodward Radio Group and 91.1 The Avenue for sharing the message, Coach Schwanke for your speaking up and Dan Flannery for writing the scripts. THIS PLACE: QUIT CRYING:

As sexual assault, abuse, harassment continue to dominate our news feeds, more and more men are asking “What can I do?” At our 2016 Call to Action event we released our “11 Things Men Can Do” poster series. These posters are available for free download on our website in both English & Spanish — and […]

Below is a short message we shared on WHBY for Father’s Day. Words from the PSA… In June we celebrate Father’s Day and discuss manhood. Conversations about manhood should start by talking about “Man Box culture”. If you’ve ever heard phrases like “act like a man”, “man up”, or “you’re throwing like a girl”, you […]

When trying to end violence and oppression and create a world where all people are treated with dignity, words matter. And it’s not just the words we say directly to someone’s face, as this video makes clear. (Warning: harsh & degrading language, rape threats, other threats of violence.) Our words can be violent. As said […]

Katherine Lymn, USA TODAY NETWORK Gathered in the middle of the Horizons Elementary School library over lunch, a group of fifth- and sixth-grade boys talked about things that didn’t come naturally: Emotions. Relationships. Girls. But that was the point. The group, which kicked off earlier this month, is the youngest audience reached yet by local collaborators who […]

So what is Manbox culture? If you’ve ever heard phrases like “act like a man”, “man up”, “bros before hoes”, “real men don’t cry”, “you’re throwing like a girl” then you know Manbox culture. It’s the part of our culture that raises boys and men to believe that: The only emotion that “real men” can have […]

YES. Sexual assault & domestic violence have traditionally been thought of as “women’s issues”. That is wrong, and it is one of the reasons these crimes continue to be epidemics in our community and around the world. The reality is that approximately 90% of these crimes are perpetrated by men, and approximately 90% of […]

“A time to listen, a time to speak” As shared at our last Breakfast, one of the first and most important things we can do as men to help end sexual assault & domestic violence is … listen to women. Listen to when they feel safe and when they don’t; listen to their fears, frustrations, […]